Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Kevin broke his implant

Well, things instantly went bad on Sunday. It is one of those situations where you wish you could just go back in time. I was making dinner and my MIL and friend were watching Kevin in the backyard. He fell out of a wagon and on his head and hit it just wrong. During the impact, the internal magnet popped out somehow. There are only 10-12 reported cases of this, so this is extremely rare! Leave it to Kevin to find another way to become a rarity!!! Anyway, he is going in for surgery on Thursday to fix the problem. The only question that remains is is hte internal implant broken too. Here are the 3 different scenarios we are looking at:

1. Best case: Only the magnet popped out. The Dr. can just pop the magnet in and only has to do a small incision. Kevin will be back up and hearing with his old map in about 2 weeks.

2. Medium case: Only the magnet popped out, but it is because the internal casing holding the magnet broke. The Dr. will suture the casing shut or add a silicon piece over the manget to hold it in place. Kevin will be back up and hearing with his old map in about 2 weeks. Hopefully the casing will last and there aren't any complications from it.

3. Worse case: The internal implant is damaged. The Dr. will need to explant/reimplant a device. This is risky because you don't want to damage anything during the extraction process. Also, maybe the new one won't be implanted as well as the old one. Then we have to start mapping from square one. Kevin might not like the new sound. It won't sound like his old implant, so he will have to adjust to the new sound and hopefully like it without ripping it off of his head. We have to do therapy to get his new ear up to speed with his old ear. This list could go on and on....

Please pray for option #1. Kevin was doing soooo well and I don't want anything to get in the way of him reaching his full potential. I just hate having to put him through another surgery. This one is harder for me and I think it is because he is older and more aware. I am just sick to my stomach about this accident. The fall wasn't even a hard one, just in the wrong spot.

Please pray for Kevin this week and especially on Thursday!

1 comment:

Drew's Mom said...

We're praying for Kevin and your family today - option #1! He is an amazing little boy.